A Duel
by Riley Poole
Summary: A simple oneshot of A Duel within the International Duelist Champions League. No follow ups, no sequels. Just a straight forward action sequence to try and improve my writing.


Harry stared at the floor, noting the thickness of the white parallel lines running exactly twenty four meters long and four meters wide. He flicked the invisible wall that stretched floor to ceiling and gave an approving nod. The hollow sound of a low-pitched tuning fork told him that the wards were working perfectly.

"Combatants approach the starting circle," a voice sounded overhead. Harry looked up to a portly little wizard who sat in a chair floating high above the ground level. The crowd behind him roared in silence, the wards at the edge of the stage blocking the sound for now as the referee began to lay out the usual rules.

Harry stepped into a small circle that was painted at the end of the strip on his side, he noticed his opponent in his own circle. The man was a hulking brute and Harry could clearly see his wand even from here. It was thick and at least 15 inches, most likely extremely stiff and not very good for anything but offense.

He looked at his own wand, a mere 11 inches and pale holly, meaning it would bend slightly but it would not break, same as he. He glanced once more at the crowd that roared in approval before he looked to the referee who seemed to be finishing up his usual opening litany.

"Now then, as before, you cannot go outside the piste, you cannot retreat further than your home circle, to do so means you forfeit. Points will be awarded but to win you must either knock your opponent out, make them submit and push them out of the ring. The Unforgivables are illegal as are any level seven or higher Dark Arts. Do you understand?" Harry nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat, he noted his opponent also offered no more than a nod.

"Than let the duel," he paused for effect, "commence." The referee brought down his hand in a chopping motion, a white veil of power rose from the circles, releasing the two duelists from their home circles. The roar of the crowd flowed in and crashed around the pair in a sea of noise.

Neither opponent moved for the moment, waiting to see who would be first. A wise tactic for Harry who favored attrition to brute force, but he noted that maybe now was not the time. He snapped his wand above his head and rapped it upon his skull, hard. The cold runny egg feeling alerted him that his Disillusionment spell had worked. His opponent stabbed his wand at the ground, a layer of fresh snow condensed upon the strip, within the barrier lines.

"So much for that plan," Harry muttered to himself, letting the spell fade. The crowd jeered and cheered for the two combatants. The large man began a slow pace forward, whirling his wand about like a conductors baton. Sparks of gold and silver flowed out like a leaky faucet and the snow about his feet swirled around him, slowly changing from pure white to a deep clear blue, they clanged against the ward and flitted about like fairies. Harry noticed the grim look on the man's face and quickly stepped off the circle to allow for non-internal spells to take effect.

A quick shield charm followed by a transfigured marble low wall allowed him to slide forward into cover from the ice bullets that were flung at him with the velocity of their name. The pinging noise they made on his shield unnerved him a bit but it was the chips of marble flying past his head that really worried him.

A quick heating charm to the stone floor melted any residual snow and deprived the man of ammunition but it didn't deter him in the slightest. The sound of boots on stone rapidly approached Harry as he chanced a glance over the edge of the wall, the man was making his way up the strip. Harry had two choices, Apparate and lose a point or two, or attempt to push the man back.

A loud crack silenced the crowd for a moment, never had an opponent been forced to Apparate so soon. The brute smiled, it had to be a sign of victory. He whipped around to be met with a likeness of his opponent. It moved slowly and with great clumsiness but it turned upon him and with agonizing slowness raised a wand. He fired off a trio of moon bright silver arrows. All of them embedded in the figure which slumped to the ground.

A loud yell rang out from behind the hulking monster and he turned to see a wash of red flare at him, sending him tumbling back towards his own circle and as he watched it close on him quickly, he focused on his hand. It morphed into a bear paw and he bore down on the stone floor with great ferocity, gouging a large path as he slowed his momentum. His feet remained just inside the far edge of the circle. The crowd roared with approval and jeers of disappointment. They were slowly turning on him.

The two combatants looked to the scoreboard; they were even at two points apiece. He growled in anger, a rumbling that vibrated his chest and sounded akin to an angry predator more so than a human being. He whipped his wand up and spat an acidic green spell at his opponent.

Harry ducked once more behind his wall, allowing the spell to impact the lip and shatter most of the left half, he let the Transfiguration fade as he rolled around and shot off a pair of sky blue spells from his back, feet facing the enemy. One sailed wide and hit the barrier but the other hit the man dead on, leaving nasty bruise on his shoulder. Harry grit his teeth, he'd have to aim better than that to take out his opponent, but at least the scoreboard now read three to two. He could do this.

He rolled backwards and onto his feet as his opponent raced forward, his body morphing into his Animagus form. Harry gulped and quickly did the same. A peregrine falcon took flight almost straight up, wings straining hard with no updraft to ride. The bear roared in belligerent anger as his prey escaped his clutches. It morphed back into the man and he shot a multitude of spells upwards. A rainbow of light flew directly for the falcon which dove almost directly downwards at the man.

Neither let up, at the last second the falcon morphed back into Harry as he swung his wand in a vicious horizontal slash, first left then right, a pair of purple spells slicing through the air. The man jumped backwards in a clumsy manner and landed on his side, wand arm up as Harry tucked his chin down and rolled on his shoulder to stand before the man.

"Do you yield," the first words spoken between the pair since the start. The man glared at him.

"Nyet," he called back before spinning over and slapping his wand on the ground. The stone shook and granite spikes shot up in a direct line from him to Harry who spun his wand between his fingers and then whispered a word, a roman-esqu tower shield appeared, made of onyx and steel. The spikes clanged against it and stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief. Another twirl of the wand and the shield pushed forward, shattering the spikes. His opponent quickly surged to his feet, a loud gong sound wailing at each jab of his wand and a bright white flash strobed over the area, causing Harry to lose sight of his opponent.

He blinked the spots from his eyes to notice that his opponent was gone. He stood still for moment, trying to discern where the man had gone. The crowd's shouting deterred him from being able to listen so he raised a hand and held it loosely, palm facing down as he sent out tendrils of magic, black in color, from his hand. It slowly spread over the piste and soon covered the whole strip. He stood perfectly still, his heartbeat the only thing he could now hear.

The crowd grew silent as they watched, soon, one of the two would lose. Harry's hand flared tight, the inky blackness was sucked into his hand and he quickly clenched his hand like a fist. The man was pulled out of the ground forcefully, soared through the air and slammed into the ground, a loud whoosh sounded as the air was removed from his lungs on impact, but he managed to once again roll away. Harry grimaced; this guy was starting to get irritating.

"Kid gloves are officially coming off," he muttered again, to himself. He twisted his wand in a corkscrew that ended in flair to the left. The forest green spell shot towards his opponent and smashed him into the left barrier of the piste, the crowd roared and Harry repeated the corkscrew but flaired to the right, the man flew into the opposite barrier. A loud chime could be heard.

"One more should do it," he whispered. He corkscrewed again and flaired to the right again, but the man dodged at the last second. The spell hit the back wall and fizzled out. Harry looked on as the man regained his feet slowly. He snapped to action before the man made it all the way up and bulldozed into the man in the first physical touch of the match. He was going to lose a point, he knew it, but the damn guy would not stay down.

"Do you yield?" He shouted at the man over the crowd. His wand tip was jammed in the man throat and the tip was heating under an unspoken_ Incendio_. The man glared at Harry for a moment. He then slapped the wand to the side and jumped at him. Harry ducked under the man's outstretched arms and spun, another forest green spell zooming at the man. It lifted him and flung him into the barrier. The barrier shattered and the man careened out of the piste and onto the outer arena.

"Match, Harry Potter!" The referee yelled. The crowd went wild as Harry raised his arms in triumph. He turned to the scoreboard to see he had managed to win by both ring out and by a four to two lead. He smiled in triumph. As he scanned the crowd, great arms descended upon him from behind and picked him up in a massive hug. He let out a joyful yell and then when he was dropped, turned to shake his opponent's hand.

"Next time I face off against you, it won't be so one sided, will it Harry Potter?" The man shouted over the roar, his Russian accent mangling half the words. Harry didn't respond, he just smiled and shook his hand.

"Next time, we won't resort to blind stubbornness either, will we Alexei?" He shouted back. The man laughed as he raised Harry's hand to the approval of the crowd once more.


End file.
